Brewers take early lead, hold off Mets rally for 8-6 win

WP: Brandon Woodruff (3-1)
LP: Noah Syndergaard (1-3)
SV: Josh Hader (6)

HR: Ben Gamel (1), Christian Yelich (14), Pete Alonso (9), Amed Rosario (2)

Box Score

The Brewers are back on a little winning streak after a tough series in St. Louis.

The scoring started right away in the first inning. Lorenzo Cain led off with a single, then two batters later, Mike Moustakas came up in the #3 spot today. He hit a simple ground ball to third and was thrown out easily, but on the play, first baseman Pete Alonso was looking Cain back to second, and ended up throwing to second. It sailed high and went into left field, and Cain took off and scored easily, giving the Brewers a 1-0 lead.

The Brewers tacked on in the third, with Christian Yelich and Mike Moustakas hitting back-to-back singles to start the inning. After Yasmani Grandal struck out, Moustakas stole second to put runners at second and third. Travis Shaw walked next, and Eric Thames then came up and hit a single that scored Yelich and Moustakas, increasing the Brewers lead to 3-0. The Mets did get on the board in the bottom of the inning, putting together a run from a hit by pitch, a single, and a walk/wild pitch.

However, the Brewers didn’t stop building their lead. Ben Gamel and Yelich both homered in the top of the fourth to build the lead to 5-1. That built plenty of run support for starter Brandon Woodruff, who turned in a decent start tonight. He pitched five innings and allowed just one run on six hits, with one walk and six strikeouts. It wasn’t his cleanest start, but was more than enough for the Brewers tonight.

The Brewers got another run in the sixth from a Gamel double and Moustakas single, then turned the game over to the bullpen. Junior Guerra came out first and pitched a scoreless inning to keep the game at 6-1. Alex Wilson was next, and the game much closer quick. Amed Rosario led off with a home run. Travis d’Arnaud singled to follow, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double. After that, Dominic Smith walked, and that ended Smith’s day. Alex Claudio was next up, and McNeil singled off him to start. Then, Pete Alonso hit a home run to close the gap to 6-5. Claudio finished off the inning there, and it was a one-run game.

With the game getting a bit close, the Brewers offense built on the lead again. Ben Gamel led off the eighth with a run, then Lorenzo Cain singled to put runners at first and third. Yelich singled after that to add on a run at 7-5. Jeurys Familia then threw a wild pitch that put Cain at third, and Grandal grounded out to increase the lead to 8-5. Jeremy Jeffress came in for the eighth, but did not record an out. He allowed a walk to J.D. Davis, then singles to Brandon Nimmo and Amed Rosario to close the lead to 8-6. Josh Hader came in right after that, and struck out the next three batters to end the inning. Hader stayed in for the ninth, struck out the first two batters and finished the game off with a groundout to protect the Brewers 8-6 win.

On offense, Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain each had three hits, and Mike Moustakas, Eric Thames, and Ben Gamel added on two hits each. Of the starting position players, only Travis Shaw did not record a hit (but did record a walk). Meanwhile, Gamel got his first home run of the season tonight, and Yelich recorded his first road home run and tied a record with fourteen home runs in the month of April.

The Brewers will go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon. Gio Gonzalez will slide into the rotation and make his first Brewers start of the season, and will face off against Steven Matz. First pitch is at 12:10 pm.